First Brisket

[Nefarious]

I guess I like to take things in pieces. I found a brisket already trimmed at costco and the weather for today, friday, was supposed to be cloudy but no rain, and I bought it.

I seasoned it with PGs, in order of the content of the rub, and small s means an unproportionate small amount. I watched video's where they use almost half as much, even same amount as the pepper. Wife wouldn't eat it as she is very sensitive to it, either would I.

I seasoned it 24 hours in advance of the cook and stored it in garage refrigerator.

When I started this morning added more pepper and garlic, can never have too much pepper.

Smoked it on hickory at between 220* and 240* and stall happened at IT=160*. During the last 2 thirty minute segments the IT increased only 4* each half hour. Pulled at 4hr 30min time, IT = 161*.

I needed to get something else done today so I will finish in oven at 250*, should I increase this? Maybe want to eat it for dinner.

A question: I heard somewhere here that the smoke stops being absorbed by the meat at 140*. Is this true or am I imagining it?

I will produce some cut images when it is done sometime tonight.

 

[TNJAKE]

Looking good so far. Nothing wrong with cranking it to 300 if you want it finished earlier. Make sure to have plenty of rest time. You didn't imagine the smoke thing. It's incorrect though. Meat will take smoke as long as smoke is applied. Some people will never agree with that

 

[Nefarious]

Looking good so far. Nothing wrong with cranking it to 300 if you want it finished earlier. Make sure to have plenty of rest time. You didn't imagine the smoke thing. It's incorrect though. Meat will take smoke as long as smoke is applied. Some people will never agree with that

Now that I think about it, if not how could you over smoke something? For the last 30 min, I probably should have added more chips.

 

[TNJAKE]

Now that I think about it, if not how could you over smoke something? For the last 30 min, I probably should have added more chips.

As long as the smoke isn't dirty you will unlikely "over smoke". Some people are more sensitive to the flavor of a properly smoked piece of meat and can be overwhelmed

 

[Nefarious]

Looking good so far. Nothing wrong with cranking it to 300 if you want it finished earlier. Make sure to have plenty of rest time.

Thanks for the information, I will go turn it up.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I agree with Jake.
Just to clarify the smoke and temp thing.
Meat will always take on more smoke as long as smoke is present, however, at about 150-160* the oxygen holding ability of meat myoglobin stops. From this point forward the pink ring that some obsess over can no longer grow into the meat. The meat at these temperature turns irreversible grey. So the meat doesn’t stop taking smoke, but smoke ring formation stops.

 

[TNJAKE]

I agree with Jake.
Just to clarify the smoke and temp thing.
Meat will always take on more smoke as long as smoke is present, however, at about 150-160* the oxygen holding ability of meat myoglobin stops. From this point forward the pink ring that some obsess over can no longer grow into the meat. The meat at these temperature turns irreversible grey. So the meat doesn’t stop taking smoke, but smoke ring formation stops.

Correctomundo

 

[Displaced Texan]

Correctomundo

 

[bauchjw]

Looking great! Can’t wait to see the finished cut!

 

[DougE]

I agree with Jake.
Just to clarify the smoke and temp thing.
Meat will always take on more smoke as long as smoke is present, however, at about 150-160* the oxygen holding ability of meat myoglobin stops. From this point forward the pink ring that some obsess over can no longer grow into the meat. The meat at these temperature turns irreversible grey. So the meat doesn’t stop taking smoke, but smoke ring formation stops.

This is the correct answer. Meat will continue to take on smoke to the point it's inedible, but the smoke ring will stop forming at 150-160*.

 

[bigfurmn]

That looks good to me. Can’t wait to see the finish.

 

[tallbm]

Remember brisket is done when it is tender and passes the tenderness test. Stab all over with something like a kabob skewer and when it goes in like butter its tender and ready. Never pull based on time or temp.

Also that is a brisket FLAT. For better flavor I would foil wrap when IT is like 180F. If you wrap brisket too early it will taste like roast beef instead of bbq brisket. You leave unwrapped to 180F and u will never get roast beef flavor.

Finally, because it is only the FLAT muscle I would definitely add like 2 oz of some kind of liquid water/beer/wine/broth and wrap with foil to keep it from drying out. A flat will dry on you where a whole packer won't have the same issues.

I hope this is turning otu well for you and I'm guessing it may be finishing up about now if not soon. Best of luck :)

 

[Nefarious]

Here are a couple of pictures of it cut.

Seems like the smoke ring is small, Everyone was more then pleased. I thought it could have been a bit more smoky.

 

[Nefarious]

Remember brisket is done when it is tender and passes the tenderness test. Stab all over with something like a kabob skewer and when it goes in like butter its tender and ready. Never pull based on time or temp.

Also that is a brisket FLAT. For better flavor I would foil wrap when IT is like 180F. If you wrap brisket too early it will taste like roast beef instead of bbq brisket. You leave unwrapped to 180F and u will never get roast beef flavor.

Finally, because it is only the FLAT muscle I would definitely add like 2 oz of some kind of liquid water/beer/wine/broth and wrap with foil to keep it from drying out. A flat will dry on you where a whole packer won't have the same issues.

I hope this is turning otu well for you and I'm guessing it may be finishing up about now if not soon. Best of luck :)

In the pan in the oven there was a very large quantity of liquid, actually boiling fat now that is has congealed.

 

[Nefarious]

Remember brisket is done when it is tender and passes the tenderness test. Stab all over with something like a kabob skewer and when it goes in like butter its tender and ready. Never pull based on time or temp.

Also that is a brisket FLAT. For better flavor I would foil wrap when IT is like 180F. If you wrap brisket too early it will taste like roast beef instead of bbq brisket. You leave unwrapped to 180F and u will never get roast beef flavor.

Finally, because it is only the FLAT muscle I would definitely add like 2 oz of some kind of liquid water/beer/wine/broth and wrap with foil to keep it from drying out. A flat will dry on you where a whole packer won't have the same issues.

I hope this is turning otu well for you and I'm guessing it may be finishing up about now if not soon. Best of luck :)

I get what you are saying. If ai let it smoke until 180 it would take an additional 20° at 8° per hour or 2.5 hours. If that's what it takes, that's what ai will do next time.

 

[smokerjim]

looks good from here

 

[Nefarious]

Remember brisket is done when it is tender and passes the tenderness test. Stab all over with something like a kabob skewer and when it goes in like butter its tender and ready. Never pull based on time or temp.

Also that is a brisket FLAT. For better flavor I would foil wrap when IT is like 180F. If you wrap brisket too early it will taste like roast beef instead of bbq brisket. You leave unwrapped to 180F and u will never get roast beef flavor.

Finally, because it is only the FLAT muscle I would definitely add like 2 oz of some kind of liquid water/beer/wine/broth and wrap with foil to keep it from drying out. A flat will dry on you where a whole packer won't have the same issues.

I hope this is turning otu well for you and I'm guessing it may be finishing up about now if not soon. Best of luck :)

Thanks for your information. It was somewhat dry as shown by the pictures. Next time I will do it differently, I might even attempt to butcher the entire brisket. The problem is there are only two of us and I didn't want to take 16 hours and then end up with 10 lbs of meat.

The end product tasted very good, was very tender. We make pot roast for the Jewish holidays twice every year, and this was more tender than they turn out. I didn't have a skewer to use to test with so I used my hand held instant thermometer probe.

Anyway, it was the first and a big learning project. Until you do it once, it is hard to understand the specific details.

 

[tallbm]

Here are a couple of pictures of it cut.
View attachment 522240

View attachment 522241


Seems like the smoke ring is small, Everyone was more then pleased. I thought it could have been a bit more smoky.

In the pan in the oven there was a very large quantity of liquid, actually boiling fat now that is has congealed.

I get what you are saying. If ai let it smoke until 180 it would take an additional 20° at 8° per hour or 2.5 hours. If that's what it takes, that's what ai will do next time.

Thanks for your information. It was somewhat dry as shown by the pictures. Next time I will do it differently, I might even attempt to butcher the entire brisket. The problem is there are only two of us and I didn't want to take 16 hours and then end up with 10 lbs of meat.

The end product tasted very good, was very tender. We make pot roast for the Jewish holidays twice every year, and this was more tender than they turn out. I didn't have a skewer to use to test with so I used my hand held instant thermometer probe.

Anyway, it was the first and a big learning project. Until you do it once, it is hard to understand the specific details.

Congrats on the success!!
From here you can make each one even better.

I think you may be seeing what I mean about getting BBQ beef flavor over roast beef flavor.
More time unwrapped in the smoke, more BBQ beef flavor and less chance of roast beef flavor.

Whole Packers are more forgiving than the Flat muscle alone. The Flat muscle is the problem child of the 2 muscles.
As for a whole lot of meat, it vac seals and freezes nicely so I wouldn't worry about the excess. It also helps that I'm the kind of guy who will eat on it 4-5 days in a row. It helps when it is so good that it's like a no brainer to want to eat it every day hahaha.

I do briskets all the time and I try to get 15lb whole packers or heavier. I cut away the thin flat meat in a "U" shape so what is left behind on the flat is about uniform thickness across the flat, this really helps.
I repurpose that good trimmed meat for other dishes or I just roll it up and set it on a bed of trimmed brisket fat in the foil pan that catches the drippings and it either comes out super tender like fried in the beef fat or as crunchy crispy burnt ends, or a combo of both.

I explain it all in detail here with plenty of pics: https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/my-brisket-flat-trimming-approach-explained-qview.286564/

The keys to doing a brisket...

1. plan enough time (add 4 hours to the amount of time you think the meat will take to get tender and be done)
2. plan enough time
3. PLAN ENOUGH TIME!
4. It's only done when tender ALL OVER. Stab all over with your instant read or a kabob skewer, its done when tender all over. I check at like 200F and let it increase a couple degrees if not ready and pull when tender ALL OVER. A dry and tough brisket is undercooked. A dry and falling apart brisket is over cooked. A burnt brisket... is burnt lol.
5. Probe placement is hard to get correct. Put in thickest yet center most part of the FLAT muscle. Never the Point muscle, the point will fool you and is hard to mess up.
6. Trim it so you remove thin or square parts of the brisket so they don't burn up and have to be tossed away. Don't worry too much about removing the fat. Don't even bother removing fat if it is close to 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick in an area
7. It doesn't care what temp you smoke it at as long as you aren't burning it
8. Wrap too early and it will taste like roast beef not BBQ brisket (I don't wrap whole packers)
9. No need to get cute with it. Simple seasoning and 1-7 above is all thats needed

Run with what you've learned 1st hand and follow the good info you get here on this site and your brisket will only get better :)

 

[DougE]

I'm the kind of guy who will eat on it 4-5 days in a row.

You sound like me. If it's good, I'll eat it till there isn't any left. My wife, however, is done after the second day.

 

[SmokinEdge]

You sound like me. If it's good, I'll eat it till there isn't any left. My wife, however, is done after the second day.

Yup agree, but leftover beef makes a great sandwich spread to If a guy just wants something different.